It's easy - very easy - to find a picture of "pretty" in magazines. The grocery store check out lines are adorned with a plethora of photos from Hollywood's latest and greatest of celebrities, last week's red-carpet event - you name it.

"Pretty" is easy to find - it is displayed on the surface, it's common and it's nice and sweet.

But, beautiful?

Beautiful is this rare combination of absolutely everything she is - something much deeper in her heart and soul, a complex blend of every thing she believes in, stands for, works towards, fights for. Beautiful is in the eyes she uses to see into the heart of her family and friends, the needs of the world around her, the smile she shares with others. Beautiful is wrapped up in every challenged she has ever faced in this life, in every victory and failure.

I had the privilege to recently photograph Elizabeth. She is a mother, a wife, and engineer doing wonderful things in this world with the skills she's been given. And as with every woman I am given the opportunity to photograph, the more I learned about her, the more I was reminded about how wonderful it is to work with women who are shaking up the world with the abilities, talents, and passions they have been given.

Beautiful is the way God sees every woman and it is my hope that the world will move towards treasuring the truly beautiful and settling less for what is merely "pretty".

A special thank you to the talented Vlada Fomenko of Vlada Fomenko Makeup and Hair for Elizabeth's beautiful hair and make up!